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Tata Steel 2023 R6: So and Caruana win, Abdusattorov still in sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/01/2023

Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana are the two victors of the sixth round at 85th Tata Steel Chess Masters 2023. Vincent Keymer went wrong in the endgame which cost him the full point against So. D Gukesh made some wrong calls early in the middlegame which gave his opponent, the former World Championship Challenger, a substantial positional advantage. Arjun Erigaisi had another exciting draw, this time against Anish Giri. R Praggnanandhaa drew his game against the sole leader of the tournament, Nodirbek Abdusattorov. IM Vaishali, GM Donchenko and GM Erwin scored a win each in the Challenger section. Round 7 for both Masters and Challengers section starts today at 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Vaishali scores her first win of the event

IM Vaishali R scored her first win of the tournament against Slovakia no.1 GM Jergus Pechac. GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) defeated IM Eline Roebers (NED) to join GM Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR) in the lead 4.5/6.

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) has his eyes on the prize | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

So - Keymer: 1-0

The former World Fischer Random champion, Wesley So (USA, 2760) scored his first win of the event against the Germany no.1 Vincent Keymer (2696). The teenager surprised his opponent by going 9...Rb8 quickly after 8.a4, 9.a5 in the Ruy Lopez.

Position after 33...Nb1

So felt Black blundered 31...Na3 and should have gone c4 first which would have led to a draw. 32.c4 a4 33.g3 Nb1 34.bxa4 b3?? now things went completely out of Black's hand. 34.Kf1 Ba5 35.Bb2 Nc3 36.Nd2 Nxa4 37.Nxb3 Bb4 38.Bc1 and White went on to win a bishop vs knight endgame.

Wesley So scores his first win of the event against Vincent Keymer | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Wesley So (USA) - Vincent Keymer (GER): 1-0 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Giri - Arjun: 0.5-0.5

Arjun Erigaisi (2722) made a bold decision of going for a queenside castle against Anish Giri (NED, 2764).

Position after 13...0-0-0

While this is not a unique idea, only twice 13...0-0-0 has been played previously. Both games ended decisively. Arjun has been playing exciting chess throughout the event. He is going for some sharp, imbalanced positions, which are quite difficult to calculate correctly for humans. Computer might say that Black was worse for the better part of the game but it was certainly not easy to figure out the 'how' part.

Position after 33...Rb2

Computer might take no time to find 32.Kf1 to be the best continuation for White. However, for humans, it is certainly not easy to figure out that walking towards the line of danger is the best choice in the above position. The game continued 34.Rxa4 Bxf2+ 35.Kh2 Rd2 36.e7 Bxg3+ 37.Kxg3 Re8 38.Rxd2 cxd2 39.Rxa6+ Kb7 40.Rd6 and the game headed towards a draw.

Arjun Erigaisi draws with Anish Giri | Post Round 6 Interview | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournnament
Critical moment of Giri-Arjun and analysis by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Arjun Erigaisi had another exciting draw, this time against Anish Giri (NED) | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
Praggnanandhaa draws against Abdusattorov | Post Round 6 Interview | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) - R Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Magnus Carlsen (NED) drew his game comfortably against Jorden van Foreest (NED) | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/ Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
Magnus Carlsen ends his losing streak by drawing Jorden van Foreest | Post Round 6 Interview | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament
Jorden van Foreest holds Carlsen to a draw | Post Round 6 Interview | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Caruana - Gukesh: 1-0

D Gukesh (2725) did not react correctly to Fabiano Caruana's (2766) battery of queen and bishop on the long diagonal.

Position after 14.Qb2

Caruana thought 12...c5 is a big mistake. After 13.dxc5 Rxc5 14.Qb2 Qc8? was another mistake. 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Qxf6 and Black is positionally lost. The former World Championship challenger felt that instead of 20.bxc4 there should have been a clear win which he couldn't find.

Fabiano wins against Gukesh | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Fabiano Caruana (USA) avenged his 44th Olympiad loss against D Gukesh | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/ Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Velimir Ivic (SRB) - Adhiban B: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/ Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Jergus - Vaishali: 0-1

IM Vaishali R (2425) got into an unpleasant endgame out of the Exchange Grunfeld opening against GM Jergus Pechac (SVK, 2637). A grave mistake in time trouble cost Jergus the game in a relatively balanced endgame.

Vaishali wins against Pechac | Post Round 6 Interview | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

IM Vaishali scored her first win of the event against GM Jergus Pechac (SVK) | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/ Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Some big reveals happened on the 38th episode of Chicken Club Podcast:

85th Tata Steel Chess 2023 Round 6 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 6 Masters games

Replay Round 6 Challengers games

Round 6 results

So and Caruana won their respective games | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

Vaishali, Donchenko and Erwin are the winners in Round 6 | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

Round 7 pairings

Masters Round 7 pairings | Photo: Official site

Challengers Round 7 pairings | Photo: Official site

Standings after Round 6

Nodirbek Abdusattorov is still in sole lead 4.5/6 | Photo: Official site

Donchenko joins Mustafa in the lead 4.5/6 | Photo: Official site

Schedule

Starting from Saturday, 14th January, all round starts at 6:30 p.m. IST, only Sunday 29th January, the final round will start at 4:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are - 18th (Masters), 19th (Challengers), 23rd and 26th January.

Time Control

100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations


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